文章基本信息

标题：Prevalence of Portable Point of Care Tests Used on Medical Service Trips in Latin America and the Caribbean
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作者：Christopher Dainton ; Nikki Shah ; Charlene H. Chu 等
期刊名称：Psychologica Belgica
电子版ISSN：2054-670X
出版年度：2018
卷号：84
期号：4
页码：736-742
语种：English
出版社：Ubiquity Press
摘要：Background: Short-term, primary care medical service trips (MSTs) frequently use inexpensive, portable point of care (POC) tests to guide diagnosis and treatment of patients in low-resource settings. However, the degree to which different POC tests are carried by organizations serving remote communities is currently unknown. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of various POC tests used by MST-sending organizations operating in Latin America. Methods: We surveyed 166 organizations operating mobile MSTs in Latin America and the Caribbean on the types of POC tests carried on their brigades. Findings: Forty-eight organizations responded (response rate: 28.9%). The most commonly carried tests were glucometers (40/48; 83.3%), urine dipsticks (31/48; 77.1%), and urine pregnancy tests (32/48; 66.7%). Fewer groups carried hemoglobinometers (16/48; 33.3%), malaria diagnostic tests (18/48; 37.5%), tests for sexually transmitted infection (8/48; 16.7%), or portable ultrasound (19/48; 40.0%). Conclusions: These tests may be useful for field diagnosis, but clinicians should understand the performance limitations of each test compared to its gold standard. When combined with knowledge of local epidemiology, these exploratory results will be useful in resource planning, guidelines development for MSTs, and in establishing minimum recommendations for diagnostic resources that should be available on MSTs.